FOI: Adding a celebrity angle won’t always improve a story…

While searching for stories to include in FOI Friday on Google News, I found this one:

The story, based on an FOI request, goes on:

The most senior policeman in Islington says the borough is not at risk from a Breaking Bad style crystal meth epidemic – despite people being caught dealing in the past year.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the Gazette reveals that three people were arrested for possessing or supplying the Class A drug methamphetamine in 2013.

The drug has been raised into the public consciousness by the hit TV show Breaking Bad, in which a school teacher with terminal cancer starts making the drug to raise cash for his family.

But Det Chf Sup Gerry Campbell, Islington’s borough commander, says the drug – which can have devastating effects for users – is not a problem in the borough.

He said: “Lets face it, meth has been available for a long time – it’s not something new.

“It has been found in London and there have been labs up and running, but as this investigation shows it is not something we would identify with the borough.”

I love the idea of using TV programmes to inspire FOI requests, and this is a great example of that. Reporting, however, that an area isn’t at risk of something most people wouldn’t have thought it might be at risk at, I’m not so sure about.

Half the battle with FOI requests is deciding which ones to invest the effort in when the information arrives.

But at least the people of Islington who were worried, can be less worried now.